NASA Announces 2018 Time Trial National Champions

The official results from Time Trial competition at the 2018 NASA Championships Presented by Toyo Tires are in. Time Trial drivers from across the country competed at the Circuit of The Americas Sept. 14-16 for the top honor of being the fastest of the fast. Here’s a breakdown of the 2018 NASA Time Trial champions.

TT1

No. 256 Timothy Bidwill was competing in Super Touring 1 and TT1 at Circuit of The Americas, and he won the ST1 qualifying race in the rain on Saturday. Bidwill also posted the fastest lap time in TT1 in his Porsche GT3 Cup car by more than 2 seconds. Bidwill’s lap time, a 2:21.431, also was the second fastest in all of Time Trial this year at the NASA Championships.

TT2

Running the only Lotus Exige S at the NASA Championships, No. 119 Kevin Fennell took the big win in TT2 by more than a second over his competition. In a class comprised predominantly of high-horsepower cars, Fennell proved that lighter is better by laying down a scorching 2:23.648 at the 3.4-mile track.

TT3

No. 61 Paul Costas has won his class in every Time Trial he has entered in the Texas Region since 2014. At the NASA Championships, he was driving a Corvette rather than the Camaro-bodied Trans-Am chassis he has been driving, but that didn’t seem to matter. Costas bested his competition by nearly 2 full seconds and came within .200 seconds of the faster TT2 class winner.

TT4

Shaun Webster drove his No. 38 Team Edge Motorworks BMW to a TT4 Championship and took second place in Super Touring 4, the racing class equivalent to TT4. Webster beat his closest competitor, which also was his teammate, by just over 1 second to take the TT4 Championship with a 2:29.248-second lap.

TT5

No. 33 Bryce Kliewer came all the way from Colorado to take on the best TT5 competitors in the country — and became the best TT5 driver in the country, beating his rivals by nearly 4 seconds, a huge gap in NASA Time Trial. Piloting his BMW 330i with the ZHP package, Kliewer ripped a 2:34.945-second lap time, securing his place on the top step of the podium.

TTD

In TTD, Marcelo Vine scorched his nearest competitor by more than 8 seconds, a margin nearly unheard of in NASA Time Trial. Vine laid down a 2:42.920-second lap time in his Porsche 944 on the last day of competition to take the TTD Championship.

TTE

Chris Kopitski has had a string of bad luck at Championships events in recent years. Mechanical troubles had kept him out of the running, but in 2018, Kopitski’s car was firing on all cylinders. He not only captured the TTE Championship with a lap time of 2:40.706, but also won the Championship in PTE, the racing class equivalent to TTE.

TTU

TTU is the run-anything, bring-anything class in NASA Time Trial. No. 176 Troy Messer brought his Chevrolet Corvette to take on some of the fastest cars in NASA competition. He came away with the TTU Championship, notching a win over Brian Faessler in his high-power Ford Mustang.